Tag Archives: AX

Veteran male seiyuu don’t generally get a lot of attention compared to their younger, female counterparts. We hope to change that a little here in our spotlight on Toshio Furukawa, the voice of Ataru Moroboshi (Urusei Yatsura), Piccolo (Dragonball Z), and Shin (Fist of the North Star).

This year at AX brought many things, including some exciting guests, shows, and the first ever English subtitled screening of the new Trigun movie! It was introduced by Japanese producer Shigeru Kitayama and brought to AX by Funimation.

The story brings all of the well known characters from the Trigun anime to the big screen. As I sit here in my luckily obtained front row seat, I am blown away by scenes of Vash’s trademark shinanagens with the accompanying crew of Milly, Meryl and Nick Wolfwood in what is appropriately called a badlands rumble.

The story takes place somewhere in the middle of the original anime’s story. It introduces a new villain to the screen by the name of Gasback and a new female bounty hunter named Amelia as Vash’s love interest (whose humorously unique allergy creates terrific comic material).

Fans throughout the showing erupted in laughter, cheers and then sat in contemplative silence as the story carried them through Trigun’s familiar comedic tropes, over the top action scenes and brief moody dramatic moments.

The screen was filled with guns blazing, explosions erupting during action filled shootouts, chases ensued and rioteously funny comedic moments played on the stage of the badlands with abundance.

When it was all said and done it was not a complex movie, but it was to be expected. It was, however, a delightfully fun romp though the desert wasteland with some very entertaining old friends.

My only complaint was that the sound in the auditorium was piercingly loud. So much so that I had a headache at the end. However, in all fairness it was a headache not unlike one you have following an overly enjoyable night of drinking.

Ray promotes our presence in da world as well as talks about our plan for AX. Warning, Ray’s hot and in this one, he bares his shoulders and neck for all the ladies and talking in Otaku Gangster Tongue at the same time! Smoking! XD

This is the big news I was promising: together with Benu of the Anime Genesis Podcast, we are doing a live show at Anime Expo 2008! The show will be on July 4, 7 PM, in LP4–next week. (See the official schedule; it’s listed under “Anime Genesis Live.”) Together with Benu, Ray, Jeremy, and me will be doing a lot of our usual schtick that we do on our podcast, but with a lot of surprises too…

We are really excited about this, and we want you all to come! If you’re going to AX, come show your support for our podcast by packing out LACC 411. And if you have a podcast yourself…we warmly invite you to put this promo in your next pre-AX episode:

So tell your friends, and tell your acquaintances, and even your enemies: we are going to be invading AX this year! And this is just one of the many things Anime Diet has planned for this year’s Expo. Stay tuned for a description of more liveblogging coverage, possible guest interviews, and of course, more videos!

The Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA), the parent organization of Anime Expo (AX), North America’s largest anime convention, is now soliciting applications for the combined position of AX 2008 convention chair and SPJA Vice President, Program Administration. This would be a paid part-time job through the rest of 2007 and the first part of 2008.

Ray’s take: All right! This is the opportunity to make things right for the Otaku masses in States! But honestly? This is the chance to try to decide which cute seiyuu you want to be at the convention for you to gawk and ogle! So rush your applications! Oh and, if you guys screw up again like last time, the be on the look out for Noir…Hey, that’s an idea! Invite Kotono-sama and Houko-chan!!!